


Thank you

by Cheekbonesandcoatcollar



Category: Mo Dao Zu Shi, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Genre: Cloud Recesses, Love, M/M, Wei Ying is a bad influence, married, the juniors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24202045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheekbonesandcoatcollar/pseuds/Cheekbonesandcoatcollar
Summary: Today, Lan Zhans hand was in his and he would never have to let go again.He tipped his head to the clouds, smile softening.Thank you, Mo XuanYu, Thank you.
Relationships: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan/Wei Ying, Lan Zhan| Lan WangJi / Wei Ying| Wei WuXian
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	Thank you

"Hey dad!" Lan SiZhui cried from the courtyard, completely disrespecting a number of GusuLan rules as he did so and seemingly uncaring of doing so.

Wei Ying grinned and waved back from where he stood watching the junior disciples training. He was rubbing off on his son again it seemed. He moved toward the figure at the other end of the courtyard overseeing the training.

His Lan Zhan, his husband.

"Hi." He whispered, sitting beside him and planting a kiss on a pale cheek.

"Hi."

Wei Ying grinned again and settled in and found himself not for the first time, wondering how he had gotten to this point, sitting here in the pristine quiet of the Cloud Recesses watching his son train with the other juniors, his husband as ever by his side. Wei Ying thinks of how proud he is of his life now, of his family, even how proud he is of himself and how he is cultivating the small golden core that was housed in his new body.

Lan QiRen, on one of the rare days that he could tolerate speaking to Wei Ying for more than a few minutes had even agreed that his cultivation was coming along well. They had the hope that when the time came he would be able to achieve immortality alongside his husband and eventually son. Wei Ying would make sure of it.

Wei Ying thinks of second chances and Wei Ying thinks of Mo XuanYu, he thinks of the terrible life the boy had led and he thinks, _thank you_.

It's a little selfish he knows, to thank someone who had given away their own life so that he may live. To thank someone for having an existence so bleak and shameful that he had felt he had no other choice than to do what he had. Wei Ying should feel sad for him and sometimes he did, sometimes he would wonder what had happened to Mo XuanYu's soul and he hoped that when he was reincarnated it was to a life where he could find peace.

The kind of peace that his sacrifice had allowed Wei Ying to find the second time around.

It _was_ selfish but Wei Ying felt he was allowed to be just a little selfish for once, he had spent all of his first life fighting for others and in the end it had led to nothing but pain and destruction for the people he loved. Not that he had ever regretted a moment of any of it and if he had to he would do it all over again. He would give Jiang Cheng his golden core and then let him live in ignorance, he would save the remnants of the Wen Clan over and over, Wen Ning, Wen Qing, granny, second uncle and A-Yuan- always A-Yuan who against all odds had come out of one life and landed in this one, happy and healthy and wonderful.

_Just like his father._

He thought about the Wen clan often and the little home they had created back in the burial mounds. It hadn't been much, it hadn't been picturesque or beautiful but it had been theirs and to some extent they had been happy there. Wei Ying had missed his family, his brother, his Shijie and though his complicated feelings and burgeoning sexuality had been one of the last things on his mind back then, sometimes he had missed Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying had had days were he was so sad he could barely move, days when he missed the warmth of his golden core so much that all he wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry. Days when someones touch made him flinch and he had to stop himself from lashing out at them. But there in their little home, they had eaten together every night, they had worked together and grown crops together and in the end they had died together. Died to save him.

He had had nightmares at first, after his summoning and once everything had settled down and he had time to truly take in the fact that he was _alive_ and he wasn't _alone_ he found himself able to finally fall asleep without trouble although he would often find himself springing awake in the early hours of the morning, forehead beaded with sweat and pale. Though Lan Zhan was always beside him to settle him he had rarely managed to find slumber again or stop his hands from shaking.

Over time, however, in the peace of The Cloud Recesses, he had been able to come to terms with the enormous loss of not only his Wen family but also his sister. The loss of seeing A-Yuan grow up and become the incredible cultivator and man he was today. The loss of those sixteen years he had missed with Lan Zhan, the loss of his old life and body and the shock of a new one.

Now the nightmares had all but ceased and he could think about those days with fond reverence, he could think about his death and in retrospect how much of an idiot he truly had been back then.

He would think about all he had done for Jiang Cheng in the beginning only for him to be the one that had dealt the blow in the end. He thought of all the times he had butted heads with Lan Zhan and mistaken his worry for disgust, only for Lan Zhan to be the reason that Wei Ying had let go.7

_How could he not have?_ Hanging there by the other mans sheer willpower alone, staring up at that beautiful face distorted with pain, exhaustion and _so much fear_. For one tiny passing moment he had wanted to climb back up, to be beside Lan Zhan and know that together they could face anything but then there was his brother, a sword narrowly missing him only to lodge into the mountain side, rock crumbling, rock that was holding his Lan Zhan and if Wei Ying didn't let go _right now_ then they would both topple over the edge to their deaths.

He couldn't let Lan Zhan die too.

In hindsight Lan Zhan had died anyway, that's what the others had told him when he had asked about those years he had been gone. Lan Zhan had taken his punishment , had repented and had completed his isolation and returned to life with an added child as if nothing had happened.

But Lan XiChen had explained he Lan Zhan hadn't been there, not really, his younger brother had chased Wei Ying up that cliff and what had come down had been an empty shell devoid of life, devoid of hope. He had spent every night playing Inquiry in the jingshe waiting for Wei Yings lost spirit to respond to him. Perhaps if they had found a body he could have found some semblance of peace but there had been nothing left of Wei Ying to bury.

Wei Ying couldn't take any of that pain away no matter how much he wanted to, he hadn't known, hadn't realized that Lan Zhan had pushed to help him so much because he had been so scared to lose him. Not until he was falling, Lan Zhan's hand grasping at the empty air, had he seen the sheer devastation on his face. He knew the truth and then he knew nothing for sixteen years.

Wei Ying tried not to be away from his husband for long. After so many misunderstandings and so long apart the separation was hard on him and even harder on Lan Zhan. He would never show it or admit it but Wei Ying knew, recognized how he was reluctant to let go of his hand and how tightly he held him even in sleep. Wei Ying knew and Wei Ying felt the same so there was no reason for him to sit and ponder in the jingshi when he could do so out here in the warm sun with his family.

There was still so much to do. He still had to build his cultivation, strengthen his core, practice with Suiban again. He had a letter written to Wen Ning that he was yet to send. He had nighthunts with the juniors to lead, the situation in Mo Manor proving him to be rather a good teacher much to everyone's shock but none more so than his own.

He had a brother with whom he was slowly rebuilding a relationship and a spoiled nephew he had to knock some sense and humility into. He had a trip to arrange after a tentative invitation from Jiang Cheng that if he had wanted to visit his Shijie again he _probably_ wouldn't be beaten again. From Jiang Cheng that was practically a promise but he would take Lan Zhan, you know, just in case.

He had a husband to help in his duties, staying behind the scenes but doing all he could, Lan Zhan had taken to the title of Your Excellency like a duck to water and Wei Ying was not surprised, Lan Zhan was made for this kind of thing. He even skillfully ignored any backhanded comments his underlings might make about his choice of husband.

Even with his name cleared to some extent Wei Ying was still the YiLing Patriarch and that came with a certain reputation, one not many favored.

He had a husband to love after all every day meant _everyday_ and a son to be a bad influence on.

Yes, he still had so much to do and miraculously he had all the time in the world to do it.

But not today.

No.

Today he would sit in the courtyard and cheer on their juniors. He would drink emperors smile in his room and make love to his husband. He would probably break another fifty rules through the day.

He smiled. He was doing that a lot lately.

"Wei Ying?" his husband asked and sometimes Wei ying marvelled at how he could say so much with so few words.

"I'm fine. Happy."

"Hm." A hand took his and squeezed, a flash of a red ribbon wrapped around a delicate wrist under the white robe.

Today, Lan Zhans hand was in his and he would never have to let go again.

He tipped his head to the clouds, smile softening.

Thank you, Mo XuanYu, for giving me what I couldn't have before.

_Thank you_.


End file.
